I'm used to being respawned back at an alliance gate when I'm out of soul gems. In Imperial City, I have the option to release upon death and I'm placed back where I wanted to continue. What does release do??
If you are in a district, it will release you to your factions spawn point in that district. Every district has a spawn point for each alliance. If you are in the sewers, no matter where you are (even against an enemy base door), you will be ported back to your home base in sewers.
BEFORE RELEASE, you either lost 10% or 80% of your Tel Var Stones. You most likely incurred damage to your armor. Because it only shows when you are looking at a death screen. You may also see a summary of effects on you when you died.
WHEN you release, you go to the closest spawn, like in a dungeon. In the Districts you go to your factions safe spot. In the Sewers, you go back to your Alliances home base.
Power level to CP160 in a week:
Where is the end game? You just played it.
Why don't I have 300+ skill points? Because you skipped content along the way.
Where is new content? Sigh.